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New Yorkers will find out who will be their next mayor this election day, in a contest that will determine who governs and protects the nation's most populous metropolis at a moment when the former president has threatened to send military troops to the city.

In this context, New York has witnessed a mayoral election that has pitted two distinctly opposing Democratic figures against each other. The contest has turned into an acrimonious face-off, laced with accusations of racial bias and Islamophobia, but it is the political differences between the two leading contenders that could have major implications for how the party fares in next year's congressional races.

The Rising Progressive

On the left side is the democratic socialist, the 34-year-old democratic socialist whose meteoric rise and grassroots campaign has attracted international attention. Representing the old guard is Andrew Cuomo, the former Democratic New York governor now running as an independent – and benefiting from the support of wealthy contributors and big business.

As the election approaches, it is Mamdani, the former longshot who beat his opponent in the party primary who is firmly installed as the frontrunner. The candidate, who has campaigned on a platform of affordability and promised to halt rent increases for about two million New Yorkers, has outpaced Cuomo by significant margins across all surveys taken in the fall, and it is very much the progressive's election to lose.

A Bitter Contest

Yet, the former governor, who stepped down as governor in 2021 amid accusations of sexual harassment, has stated clearly he will battle to the end, and not necessarily in an fair manner. He has criticized Mamdani's objectives as unrealistic, and in the final stretch laughed as a radio host made anti-Muslim comments about the candidate, who is Muslim. Two weeks ago, the independent was widely condemned as racist after sharing an AI-generated ad that included a series of racial caricatures and showed Mamdani releasing a convicts.

It's been a particularly ugly end to an election that could be key to the direction that the party, struggling in its reaction to Trump's power moves, takes in the coming years.

National Implications

Should the progressive wins convincingly, the establishment party leaders who have declined to support his bid will be forced to reckon with a message that has resonated with voters' frustration at inequality, inflation and the establishment. It would be difficult for Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries not to adopt at least some of the candidate's progressive proposals about economic justice, given the newcomer has generated an enthusiasm within the party arguably not seen since the Vermont senator ran for president in 2016.

Conversely, if the former governor, who had been expected to sail to victory in the Democratic primary, achieve a surprising riches-to-rags-to-riches victory, it could reinforce the party's current model of considered, uninspiring opposition – a strategy that has infuriated the party base. A New York rejection of the progressive's optimistic platform could persuade Schumer and Jeffries that the best plan is to remain in the political center – even as polls show the present version of the Democratic party is widely disliked nationwide.

Campaign Energy

Residents of the city appear to favor the progressive agenda. Surveys show that Mamdani supporters are much more excited about their choice than Cuomo backers, something that has been apparent throughout the campaign. Mamdani's snappy videos on digital platforms, his hopeful outlook for the city and his readiness to actually get out and connect with voters in the metropolis has attracted an force of more than 50,000 volunteers, many of them youth or first-time voters.

Personal Attacks

However, Cuomo, in his late sixties, continues to fight. And with the risks against him, the ex-leader has turned to ugly messaging in recent weeks.

After spending months throwing basically everything at his opponent to see what might stick, Cuomo has concentrated on targeting the candidate personally. He has called Mamdani, who was born in Uganda to South Asian heritage, an "radical", and popped up on Fox Business for an discussion with Maria Bartiromo, where Cuomo claimed New York “will not survive” Mamdani as city leader. It reached a nadir recently, when Cuomo chuckled and said “that’s another problem” after a broadcaster said the candidate would “cheer” another 9/11-style incident.

Political Landscape

This strategy echoes much of what Trump, who has sent the national guard to Washington DC and threatened to take similar action to New York, has said about the progressive, and perhaps that is expected. A set of billionaire New Yorkers, including some who donated to Trump in the 2024 election, have invested heavily into trying to elect Cuomo into office, as other influential figures have pressured the Republican candidate to withdraw from the contest.

Candidate Backgrounds

As far as the his team, and his billionaire supporters, are concerned, it should never have come to this. When the assemblyman, one of one hundred fifty state legislators, launched his campaign for mayor in last year, few had heard of him, and in truth, barely anyone even noticed.

The former governor, by comparison, entered smoothly into the race in this year and became the immediate frontrunner. He was the big beast who apparently held every edge. The classic political insider, he had married a Kennedy and worked in Bill Clinton’s administration. He assumed office as New York governor in 2011, 17 years after his parent, Mario Cuomo, stepped down from the identical role.

Mamdani, who was elected to the New York state assembly in recently, does not have the comparable background. But his commitment to providing free buses and affordable child services – along with the freeze-the-rent pledge – present a brighter outlook of the future than his opponent's dire warnings about “mayhem” and unfettered crime, and his promise to increase police presence.

Campaign Controversies

Still, the candidate has encountered difficulties in recent days, after video surfaced appearing to show him suggesting the NYPD and the IDF were connected.

“We have to make clear that when the boot of the police is on your neck, it’s been influenced by the IDF,” Mamdani said in the clip, recorded at a Democratic Socialists of America convention in recent years. The progressive, a vocal opponent of Israel who has said the country is engaging in atrocities in the Palestinian territory, indicated he was criticizing joint training exercises between the city police and IDF.

Powerful Moment

With the election nearing, the candidate appears to have won sympathy and support, however, for his response to his opponent's increasing rhetoric.

The progressive responded to the independent's terrorism comments in an heartfelt recording. In it, Mamdani recalled how, when he first ran for the legislature, a Muslim uncle suggested to him that he did not have to disclose about his Muslim faith. It was a lesson, he said, that many Muslim New Yorkers had been taught “again and again”: “That security could only be found in the margins of our city. That it is in those shadows alone where Muslims could express their full identities, and that if we were to step out from those shadows, then it is in those shadows that we must set aside our beliefs.”

Speaking to the actions of his opponents, who has alleged Mamd